Every year, FIU architecture students are challenged to design and build “shoes” to walk across the lake behind the Green Library at Modesto A. Maidique Campus. Some fare better than others. On Nov. 8, architecture student Alex Quinonez crossed the 175-foot-wide lake in just over a minute, taking home the top prize of $500.

Eventually more than 80 percent of the 79 students who participated completed the seemingly impossible assignment. Those who made it to the other side received an A in the class and the opportunity to drop their lowest grade.

“It’s really a process,” said Quinonez. “You are not just going to come out the first time and do good. It’s something that’s just trial and error.”

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